St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-01-31


sun, in women's froeks at least However.
1t must be confessed that the pretuberance
in the back of women's skirts known as the
Dastle, tournure, crinolet-eall it what Won
please, is all the same thing-is of compar-
atlyely modern origin. There were hoops
and painters before the French revolution.
Ihe hips and all around the lower extremi-
Ties OF the person were surrounded with in
Hated petticoatS before and after that
period. but the hustle proper began its
career with varying successes and defeats
during the decade between 1910 and 1S49.
At the moment, it is the pronounced. dom
inant feature in fashionable woman's at
tire. Skirts may be full or short in front or
at the sides. they must be arbitrarily ample
In the fullest sense of the word in the back.
SO as to accommodate the huge shelf-l like
protnberance with which ali dresses that
are fashionable are now adorned or disfig-
ured. There is, however. one advantage in
liNilig ln the present age of progress and
common sense. While fashionable
IaShionable-women are weak about the
conventional cut of their gowns and frocks
as III the days when queens and empl esSes
not only set the fashions. but dictated what
Tue ladleS OF their courts and women of
Their realms should and should not wear.
iilere are nowadays SO many poor educated
women. trained to independence of thought
SO inucn more study. among ali classes of
women of the subject of
ARTISTIC AND HEALTHFUI, DRESS
that. even if other causes did not operate in
producing diversity, these alone would pro-
duce that variety in fashions which permi is
extreme license in personal choice. With n
certain limits. of what each one NAV wea +.
lie enormous amount Of textile fabrics nd
manufactured articles Of dress would, if
nothing else, cause variety and diversity in
Women's dress. While it can not be admit ed
that we have arrived at perfection in wom-
an S dress, we have improved so much as not
To nave any good reason to fear that the
threatened expansion of the hustle, the
SmaiineSS and length of the waist, the
amplitude and weight of the skirt. indi-
Gated by some of the French dresses lately
brought over. will ever be permitted TO 90
to the excess that they m light have when a
Madame P0mpadour or a Du Barry set
the fashions for the world, Or later when a
Madame Tallien influenced even the good
and sensible Josephine to wear the indeIi-
cate modernzed Greek costume of the first
French republic. The fact is, we have too
many women of firstrate intelligence now
adays who know how to dress well and who
have the means to carry out their ideas to
fear return of the majority of the sex to
the follies of the past. There are plenty of
women in America who have combination
OF artistic taste. sturdy independence and
courage of their opinions along with the
means to carry out their ideas, to insure for
the future prevalence Of good taste and
good sense in feminine costume. Women
will not in the future make up their clothes
by the rules of fashion plate makers and
fashion magazine articles, unless they are
marked by good taste and good sense.
L went down stairs and entered the part
OF the academy generally known as the or
cheStra. 1t was all tloored over even with
the stage, and
AN IMMENSE CROWD
of maskers and observers, most of both
classes. by the way. without any masks,
were parading about on it. As / walked
down the short aisle that led through the
parQuet seats l noticed that among the
spectators who were sitting there were a
score or more of cOlored women with white
caps on their heads. There were more
White women, who were evidently do
mestics also. Their duties, | learned,
were to act as dressing maids to the more
ostentatiouS of the maskers. While | have
nothing to say in this democracy against
servant girls. it did seem to me an evidence
OF the shuckingly low tone of the occasion
to see that the maskers who wearied of the
dance and the dudsh men who tired with
looking on mingled unconcernedly with the
colered maids in the parquet seats. not
talking with them, but sitting next them,
wherever an empty seat could be found.
Such q thing would not be thought
OF in places where the other actions
of the people present would not be toler-
ated. By reason of the semi-circuar ar
rangement of the parQuet seats the dancing
floor was shaped like section of an i'm
mense egg. Around the circumference was
a triple row OF male wall-howers rather
difficult to pass. As l was edging my way
through | heard tall, wildly whiskered
man greet another in this manner: Hello,
Charley! Wonder how many more Bos-
tonla1ls there are here? Want girl? l
know millions of them" l did not pause
for an answer. l will not attempt to de-
scribe the. costumes. Few were worthy of
attention from an artistic point of view,
though there were many that were striking
from novel combinations of colors and gew-
gaws. One of the first figures l noticed
was clever imitation of Violet Cameron
as she appeared in her gorgeous red tights
costume in The Commodore" There
We're several others who floated about in
short skirts looking like animated labels
from champagne bottles.
CLARA BELLE